There are some great new resources available online about traditional American square dancing (and "modern western" as it relates to traditional), arising from a re-revival that's been building in the U.S. in the past two decades. (See this seminal article in the Old Time Herald, of Winter 1988-1989.)

I know that there are a few of us Mudcat callers (in both the U.S. and the U.K.) who are plugged into this through the "trad-dance-callers" Yahoo Group, but since Mudcat comes up well in Google searches, I thought I'd add this post to help spread the word.

First, Nils Fredland, a young contra and square dance caller (and musician and singer) who is now based in New Hampshire, has assembled a great collection of links as the CDSS Square Dance Resources web guide at the Country Dance and Song Society's web site. Included are

- What Is Square Dancing? — A friendly intro
- Styles — Overview of six major categories of American squares
- History — Links to articles and websites focused on square dance history
- Caller Resources — Advice and commentary, dance figures, reference sites
- Organizations — Proponents of square dancing in the US and Canada
- Traditional Groups — Local groups in the US that promote or host traditional squares
- Traditional Callers — Directory of traditional square dance callers
- Video & Audio — Video of events from the 1940s to today, video/audio of specific dance figures

The other items are referenced among the above, but deserve their own highlighting:

In the SquareDanceHistory channel on YouTube, the initial videos (100 to date) are examples from the "Dare To Be Square" weekend held November 2011 in Brasstown, North Carolina. (They are also duplicated at http://squaredancehistory.vidcaster.com/, if you want less YouTube clutter.)

This DTBS weekend (there have been other independently organized events sharing the "Dare To Be Square" name) featured five of the nation's top callers (Larry Edelman, Bill Litchman, Jim Mayo, Tony Parkes, and Phil Jamison, and Bob Dalsemer) demonstrating five different regional styles of square dance, including traditional western squares, New England squares, Appalachian squares, and modern western squares.

The Brasstown DTBS weekend and the YouTube channel are associated with the Square Dance History Project. The Project's web site is under development, with the ultimate aim of assembling "many sources of information in one well-organized digital library with a robust web portal ... . In addition to helping us appreciate our rich square dance heritage, the site will include ample resources to inspire current callers, musicians, and dancers, in order to serve the living tradition." David Millstone, another New Hampshire dance caller, who is also a videographer, is a central mover in this project.

I'm one caller/dancer/folkie-nerd who is thrilled with this development in the dance scene.

~ Becky in Long Beach